Unless he gets sacked after 15 games like Furner

His CV is on a par with Holbrook and Woolf. Granted it is a bit of a risk with NRL assistants etc, but he has been well rated at some very good clubs, including the Roosters and Penrith. And a grand final in the QLD cup and the work he’s done there isn’t too shabby either.

Ultimately time will tell, but I wouldn’t be writing him off purely because he’s not a ‘name’ coach.

His Uncle was hardly a coaching superstar when he came to us - that went pretty well

Rohan smith was a very highly rated young coach a few years ago, and still not that old.
Reckon its a good move under the circumstance that the bigger names in NRL are just not interested in coming to SL.

People moaning and righting him of already, obviously not happy we could not get Craig Bellamy or Trent Robinson.
The coaching standards in Aus QRL NSWRl cup are better than all but about 3-4 super league coaches.
Smith is a QRL cup winning coach to the broncos feeder club, its on paper a quality signing.
Now lets get behind him and see were we are rest of season.

Good post lets give the lad a chance!

Well Rohan handled himself very well in public during our 3rd meltdown. He took over from Lowes and was dumped for Toovey who was Graham Lowe's mate. Not sure that was the best decision but a lot of water had gone under the bridge.

On the coaching front we played some nice rugby under Smith. He didn't have very long with us and in our one big game he was utterly out-thought by Jon Sharpe's Fev and we got stuffed. He certainly comes over well in an interview. Not sure what substance lies behind the facade but I wouldn't judge him too much on his time with us as we were a total basket case (albeit with a better squad than now).

Not many over here had heard of Graham Murray or Tony Smith, big names aren’t always great.

Well said. Lets all get behind him. I like the sound of him personally. Good appointment imo.

He's done a decent apprenticeship with a GF win in the Intrust Cup last season (coaching Nene Mcdonald, Danny Levi and Tyrone Roberts among others) and whilst not directly from the NRL it's a decent standard of coaching. Easy to be underwhelmed but he's from good stock and his teams play some nice stuff.

Indeed. well said.

I’m pleased it’s a young, hungry coach and with something to prove. If we go with him for 3 years I’m sure we’ll make some huge strides. Let’s hope we manage to move on most of our squad at end of season and let him build a team…..

I’ve edited your post for accuracy

Not sure who fans were thinking we would get as we were never going to appoint an NRL head coach.

He has very good role models in his father and uncle and if he is anything like Tony then we will get to see some good attacking rugby which will be refreshing.

He has lots of experience as an assistant coach in the NRL, was well regarded by Bulls fans during his stint with them and has just won the Queensland Cup which is of far better standard than the championship.

I don't believe Holbrook or Woolf had any better CV's when they joined Saints and personally I don't think we were going to get anything much better.

I am ok with the appointment, albeit the proof will be in the performances.

Any coaching appointment will be a gamble. If we appointed a top line NRL coach, they could leave 8 weeks after joining us if an NRL head coach became available.

Give Rohan a chance and see how he goes.

The QLD cup link is also interesting in that we have a lot of quota spots available next year and there’s a lot of QLD cup players and fringe nrl players that could step up to SL without the cost of a full blown nrl signing.

Yep, always looking for a bargain uncle Gary

I guess we'll see how he goes. If he's to do anything though he must have the freedom to recruit players and staff he wants. Not suggesting he could or should get rid of JJB or anyone else in the near term, but he absolutely must be given the power to appoint someone else if he wants them. Ditto players. If not we'll never get out of this mess.

I'm pretty sure Rohan won coach of the year in the competition he was in last year. I'm really pleased he got the position and I am genuinely looking forward to seeing what he can do with this young Leeds squad - and this is from a Bulls fan!

When he was the coach at Bradford you could tell that the players were thriving - there was a buzz amongst the squad that wasn't there previously and hasn't been since.

I know some of you wanted a household name but surely you know by now that this doesn't always work out?

Have faith in GH and give Rohan a chance.

I have some concern about his relationship with Chev Walker, they were together at Bradford and given Chev's twitter post he's clearly delighted. I hope that this isn't another old mates act.

Or we realistically look at the fact that SL can’t generally attract the standard of player it once did, while also looking at the quality that can still be found including Field and Mago who have been revelations at Wigan, and say having someone with contacts etc at that level can’t harm us. Especially when atm we seem to be being stung by more established or expensive signings.

Anyway, that’s very much a secondary job beyond keeping us up right now.

Was Chev still a player while Rohan was at Bradford or was he in the coaching team by then?

Richie Mathers and Chev Walker both called for the appointment when Agar resigned from the role

Coaching. Richie Mathers also knows him from days at GCT I believe. Both speak highly of him, I want to be a bit more convinced.

Will be interesting to see when he arrives.

Mathers also said this mind you - https://twitter.com/RichardMathers/stat ... 2e68g&s=19

Mathers also said this mind you - https://twitter.com/RichardMathers/stat ... 2e68g&s=19

Chev retired from playing in 2015. Smith arrived at Bradford in 2016.

I really really hope this goes well, but it's an absolutely mad signing. Think this will determine the future of the GH era. He's backed a major underdog, and if it doesn't work out, they'll be major question-marks over GH's position.

I've always been an ardent GH fan, and think he's been the best CEO of the SL era. Just hope he's pulled another one out the bag, otherwise it might be time for him to retire.